I made something crafty. A DIY spoon rest.
You're welcome, world.
Let me back up a little bit. If you happen to visit our home right now, it looks like we're having something of an identity crisis. The previous owners decorated everything in a Moroccan theme. As soon as we moved in we were like, “Modernize everything! Rip it all out, paint the walls, update appliances!” Until we ran out of steam. And money. Nobody bothered to tell us that renovating is like, really expensive. So there are certain areas that we're just letting be and trying to make our peace with for the moment.
Exhibit A: this range hood. It's so…gold. These mosaic tiles are securely grouted on so there's no revamping it, but we're not quite ready to buy a new one that's out style. So we're living with it.
I happened to see this plain piece of old wood sitting outside, and had an idea that I knew Chelsea would love. A DIY spoon rest marrying our old and new styles.
I hauled out a couple strips of the mosaic tiles that I found in the shed.
Then, I prepped my DIY spoon rest by cleaning the wood and spreading a generous layer of stain over it. They make prepackaged wipes now that make staining and waterproofing one easy, mess-free step.
Next, I peeled the mosaic tiles away from their backing and glued them in a decorative formation onto the wood for my DIY spoon rest. E-6000 is my adhesive of choice, waterproof and thoroughly unbendable once it dries. I don't mess around with any sissy craft glue.
While my DIY spoon rest dried, I decided to deal with the grout on the range hood. If I can't rip it off, I may as well de-grime it. Zep Commercial Grout Cleaner and Whitener can clean really dirty grout lines with little or no scrubbing (it's so powerful, the direction say to wear gloves and coverings to prevent burns!). It has a squirt top instead of a spray top, so it's easy to distribute with a squeeze. That toothbrush there is the grime that came loose from this small spot – without scrubbing – from the grout that had just been cleaned using a conventional non-commercial grade cleaner.
This stuff is also good for removing rust stains from concrete.
By the time I finished cleaning the range hood, my craft was complete. And there you have it. An easy-to-make DIY spoon rest. I can't really tell you why mine looks the state of Nebraska. Sometimes, I'm just inadvertently awesome like that.